Take educated guess?

[ChrycoDUDE]

I wouldnt bother renting a cordless impact. That probably wont budge it. I dont know how crafty you are, but you could make a tool to fit in the balancer to hold it so you can break the bolt loose. Like this

View attachment 280040

- - - Updated - - -



Funny story, one of the instructors at the chrysler training center i go to has some great stories from when he was a tech. Early in his career he worked for gm, and one of his stories involves trying to break a crank bolt loose in this very way. Long story short he hit the key at the same time his manager was walking through the shop. When he hit the key, it threw the breaker bar half way across the shop, hitting the manager in the head and knocking him out cold. Lol.

That looks like an awesome idea. I would def make something like that. I am somewhat crafty but lack a shop or welding tools. I have my garage and some tools and that's about it. I guess I'm not as well equipped as other guys around here, well actually I know I'm not, lol.

 

[BeatersRus]

is the starter still attached?
old school trick here.
put breaker bar with socket on it lay the bar against Framerail Solidly and hit starter a few times.
presto bolt solved.

ha,it didnt show me the other 2 pages of replies till after i posted.
ah well,the breaker bar trick Will work.

just be careful as stated about the bar.
you can have someone hold it Against the rail but Dont have them hold it IN their hand as it will crush it.

 

[ChrycoDUDE]

That bolt if its at factory spec is at 135LBs even if someone nailed it on with a impact its prob around 200 lbs.
Harbor freight has a 1/2 drive {plug in, not battery} electric impact rated at 250 lbs for $45, yep I know its a cheap one and wont last forever but it will be darn handy to have around , someone else already mentioned getting a electric impact , I got to vote for that also. That $45 impact and a cheap set of deep well 1/2 drive impact sockets { prob another $25 } will make your life better.
The impact wont spin the engine , it hammers the bolt loose.

If needed , tell the better half that impact and sockets will save you $$, You can now rotate her tires plus all other kinds of handy projects she wont have to pay for once that you have your new impact wrench.

Yeah, I've bought stuff from HF before, they have a sketchy rep at best...but THAT sounds like a great idea. At the moment I just can't justify running out and buying a whole compressor and rig..esp since most likely it will sit in some corner collecting dust after this one time use. I've been getting along fine with my breaker bar (until now that is, lol).

 

[BeatersRus]

Yeah. You can bet I wish I had that.
Meanwhile since I don't gotta find something else that might work. Anyone ever slide rope into the cylinder, bring the piston up so that the rope stops it (softly)? The only problem I see is the rope potentially becoming stuck (somehow) in the cylinder. Wouldn't happen to anyone else, but me....murphy's law rule of the day.

the rope trick is another old school trick to change rockers and such,kept the valves from falling into the bores.
use the starter trick instead.

 

[ChrycoDUDE]

Since the rocker shaft is removed (valves won't open), remove a spark plug and rotate the engine to put the piston down in the cylinder. Fill the cylinder with rope and when the rope is compressed against the head the engine will not rotate. Now you can remove the balancer bolt. If you wiped out the cam, the lifter may have not been spinning the lifter bore easely like it should. Hughes Engines sells a lifter bore burnishing ball that helps re-size and align the lifter bores.
When I wiped out a cam, the metal shavings scratched up the inside of the oil pump and the cylinder walls pretty good. I actually just pulled the engine at that point and had it re-honed, new rings and bearings, oil pump and the cam and lifters.

I saw someone doing that on the internet. I did have a piece of rope threaded into no.1 cylinder at one point but I was afraid with my luck the rope would somehow get stuck in there. One of the cam lobes is definitely wiped, that's why its coming out.

- - - Updated - - -

is the starter still attached?
old school trick here.
put breaker bar with socket on it lay the bar against Framerail Solidly and hit starter a few times.
presto bolt solved.

ha,it didnt show me the other 2 pages of replies till after i posted.
ah well,the breaker bar trick Will work.

just be careful as stated about the bar.
you can have someone hold it Against the rail but Dont have them hold it IN their hand as it will crush it.

HaHa...no worries. The started is definitely detached.

 

[BeatersRus]

id put that starter back on and be done with this in about 15 minutes m8.

 

[ChrycoDUDE]

id put that starter back on and be done with this in about 15 minutes m8.

I don't think I can do that at this point. The entire front of the motor is disassembled, alt., wtr pump, pump housing, everything...including part of the pass side valve train is apart (rocker arms shaft and arms). IF I bolt the rocker shaft/arms and the starter motor back on, would it matter if the rest of that stuff isn't there? Is that all that is needed to JUST spin the motor to break this bolt?

 

[BeatersRus]

if the rockers are off then the valves are closed and nothing can hit.
you dont need plugs or rockers or anything.
take the plugs out too,no compression.
just use the starter and common sense.
all you are trying to do is break the bolt loose in the crank itself.

>> Make Sure nothings going to fall into motor/ie pushrods etc and then spin it and break the bolt free..
Triple Check before you spin....

and when you get the bolt loose,
use a Bolt on Puller Not a Spread jaw puller on the balancer.
Trust me there.

 

[Hemi Rebel]

That looks like an awesome idea. I would def make something like that. I am somewhat crafty but lack a shop or welding tools. I have my garage and some tools and that's about it. I guess I'm not as well equipped as other guys around here, well actually I know I'm not, lol.

You wouldnt necessarily need to weld it. Drill 2 holes through the bar, and just nut and bolt a grade 8 bolt as big as will fit in the holes in the balancer.

 

[emore]

listen to BeatersRus, I done his trick many times, it works

 

[texas69bee]

When you finally get passed this problem I'd start thinking about what's causing the problem to begin with. Do you know if the pan has ever been pulled? There could nylon gears clogging the oil pick up. Pull pan, inspect and clean all the other crap out sitting on the bottom.

 

[ChrycoDUDE]

Ok. Took a break. I picked up the electric impact driver and proper sockets for it. Thanks everyone for following along my sad sack story and all the suggestions,lol. Soon as the items get here, I'll be back at it in a day or two. =)

 

[HT413]

Stay strong, brother!

 

[ChrycoDUDE]

Oh...if anyone has any beginner tips on doing a cam swap I'm all ears....I've got a some experience messing around with motors; last fall I pulled the heads, before then rebuilt the top end....but never been as far as pulling and swapping cams. I'm fearless tho because I'm stupid...I don't know what I don't know. Actually maybe its better that way? Lol

 

[BeatersRus]

why do you ask for advice you wont use?
seriously,you dont want to nick your cam bearings either.

 

[ChrycoDUDE]

why do you ask for advice you wont use?
seriously,you dont want to nick your cam bearings either.

Everyone has great advise, it helps to see the problem from different angles. How does using an impact driver on the stuck bolt nick cam bearings?

 

[texas69bee]

It doesn't . You asked for advice on the cam install. He was telling you to be careful on the removal and install so the lobes don't nick the cam bearings.

 

[ChrycoDUDE]

Got it. I assume then it's ok to keep the same bearings..as long as I don't damage any of them. Looks like it is very involved process to swap them out for new ones...I will take it extremely slow...I got plenty of engine assembly and cam lube on hand...enough to swim in. Still waiting for my impact wrench to appear...should overnighted it here. Oh well. What an odyssey this has turned into...all over a single bolt. Seems like Murphy's law x 10.

 

[HT413]

what I did, an i'm no expert, is put the cam timing cog back on - it helps a lot to keep the cam from bashing into the bearings.

 

[ChrycoDUDE]

Got it. Little tips like that are extremely helpful. Thanks! Some else I'm hearing/reading about: "Degreeing the cam". This appears to be very complicated. Any tips? Is this for street motors or just racing engines? I would think timing has to be exactly dead on in race engines...but not as much as in a street motor?